The 1996 Matilda film is better than the new one

[BlowDryRat]

The 1996 film was brilliant. Mara Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman and Pam Ferris nailed their characters. It sticks fairly closely to the book and is still good fun to watch nearly 30 years later.

I'm not as keen on the 2022 film. It deviates widely from the book and although it was a fun watch, I wouldn't watch it again whereas I've enjoyed watching the 1996 version several times with the kids.

What do you think?

For me the biggest thing is that because its American they've aged up Matilda a bit (in the book she's 4 but in 1996 version she's 6-7) and Mara Wilson is the right age. In the new one she's meant to be 4 but the actress is about 9 so just felt weird to me.

also i found the old Trunchbull by Pam Ferris absolutely terrifying. i found the relationships particularly between Miss Honey and Matilda much more built up in the film. I felt they sacrificed a lot of the relationship building in the recent one for the acrobat storyline which just didn't fit in to me at all. i get what they were trying to do - develop Miss Honey's story - but it just felt too long winded and not a good use of the time.

Enjoyed the music though.

I like both but prefer the musical style of the new one.

Much prefer the old one, it’s just a bit warmer and more fun. Also the whole acrobat story is a bit boring once you’ve seen it more than once

I didn't really get the point of the acrobat story. IIRC Miss Honey's father was a doctor in the book and she inherited a beautiful house and a substantial wodge of cash once they got rid of Miss Trunchbull.

Both totally different but my mind jumps to the newer one. I wasn’t as much of a fan of Emma Thompson as trunchbull though, the other actress ‘was’ her to me (and I do love Emma Thompson!) The music was amazing!

New one is based on the musical. So has to have added songs etc. My DD thinks there is mention of an acrobat in
The book???

Well, they’re essentially based on two different source texts, in that one filmed a novel and the other filmed a musical adaptation of the novel. I haven’t actually seen all of the film musical, but DS tells me that my favourite song from the stage musical (‘Telly’) didn’t make it in. I think adapting stage musicals is a really tough gig, and often only a partial success.

Danny de Vito and Rhea Perlman are brilliant in the US-set film, and I’ve met Embeth Davidtz, who plays Miss Honey, who is a friend of a friend (and who, unsurprisingly, is not at all Miss Honey-like.)

I think they were both good in their own right and were different beasts.
I prefer 90s Little Women and Emma to the recent ones. I haven't seen the remake of the wicker man but will give it a try.